Desired Bitumen Properties

The principal characteristics of bitumen are its softening point and its needle penetrability. In France the latter has always been the basis for bitumen classification and class designation. Yet, the former is more representative of a bitumen s capacity to deform when the service temperature increases. The other properties have more or less importance depending on the application. 

Penetrability is the depth, expressed in tenths of a millimeter, a standard steel needle penetrates into a bitumen sample at 25°C. The needle carries a weight of 100 g and the test is applied for five seconds. The corresponding test method is relatively difficult to carry out and is defined in France by the standard NF T 66-004, and in the USA by the method ASTM D 583. Penetration is related to the viscosity. 

This test attempts to characterize the brittleness of bitumen at low temperatures. It consists of measuring the temperature at which fissures appear on a bitumen film spread on a blade as it is repeatedly flexed. This test is delicate and of questionable reliability, but it is currently the only one that allows the elastic behavior of bitumen on decreasing temperature to be characterized. It is standardized in France (T 66-026). 

A bitumen sample is oxidized at high temperature under well defined conditions and its physical characteristics are measured before and after this artificiai ageing process. The method is defined in France as AFNOR T 66-032 and in the USA by ASTM D 2872 (Rolling Thin-Film Oven Test). 

This measurement provides a definition of the bitumen content in bitumen materials as the portion soluble in carbon disulfide (in France, in trichloroethylene, carbon tetrachloride or tetrachloroethylene). The method is defined by AFNOR NF T 66-012 or IP 47, or ASTM D 4 (the latter is not equivalent to the others). 

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Bitumens are residues of the vacuum distillation of suitable crude oils (distillation bitumen). Residues of less suitable crudes must be partially oxidized by blowing to achieve the desired technical properties (semi-blown bitumen). Blown bitumens for special purposes can also be produced from vacuum residues. The process is executed by blowing a stream of finely distributed air through the molten bitumen (sometimes reduced in viscosity by addition of flux oil) at temperatures of 250-290 "C. 

The proportion blended with the petroleum binder varies and depends on the original bitumen and the desired final properties. With regard to pellets, the appropriate proportions range from 25% to 40%, by mass of bitumen. 

Concrete is a cheap fire and corrosion resistant material. However, active species, especially easily soluble ions such as cesium, can be leached from it by water. Addition of plastic binders to the concrete in order to improve its properties have been suggested. In the continuous bitumen extruder process for semi-liquid wastes all water is directly eliminated, considerably reducing the waste volume. The bitumen mixture is placed in steel drums of standard size (150-2001). When additional shielding is desired, the filled drums are placed into disposable or reusable sleeves of concrete, iron, or lead. Such a sleeve of 12 cm lead weighs 7 t, and reduces the surface dose rate by a factor of —10. A typical unshielded bitum i drum may have a surface dose rate of 1 Sv h necessitating remote handling. 

As mentioned previously, the difficulties in obtaining colourable blends from bitumen mixtures have forced the research and production of synthetic substances which are easily colourable, with mechanical properties similar to those of bitumen, allowing their use in most applications where coloured mixtures are advised. These products, known as binders or light synthetic binders, because of their light tones, are a mixture of substances that form a macroscopically compatible system. The colouring is easy and with 1-2% w/w pigment, colour shades are obtained which meet most of the desired colour range [5]. 

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